vesicle

American  

[ves-i-kuhl] / ˈvɛs ɪ kəl /

noun

1. a small sac or cyst.

2. Biology. a small bladderlike cavity, especially one filled with fluid.

3. Pathology. a circumscribed elevation of the epidermis containing serous fluid; blister.

4. Geology. a small, usually spherical cavity in a rock or mineral, formed by expansion of a gas or vapor before the enclosing body solidified.

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vesicle British  

/ vɛˈsɪkjʊlə, ˈvɛsɪkəl /

noun

1. pathol

   1. any small sac or cavity, esp one containing serous fluid

   2. a blister

2. geology a rounded cavity within a rock formed during solidification by expansion of the gases present in the magma

3. botany a small bladder-like cavity occurring in certain seaweeds and aquatic plants

4. any small cavity or cell

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vesicle Scientific  

/ vĕs′ĭ-kəl /

1. A small fluid-filled sac in the body.

2. A membrane-bound sac in eukaryotic cells that stores or transports the products of metabolism in the cell and is sometimes the site for the breaking down of metabolic wastes. Vesicles bulge out and break off from the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. Vesicles get their energy for mobility from ATP. Lysosomes and peroxisomes are vesicles.

3. A small cavity formed in volcanic rock by entrapment of a gas bubble during solidification.

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Other Word Forms

• vesicular adjective
• vesicularly adverb

Etymology

Origin of vesicle

First recorded in 1570–80, vesicle is from the Latin word vēsīcula little bladder. See vesica, -ule

Example Sentences

To help move this field forward, Erdbrügger is organizing a hands-on workshop for UVA scientists focused specifically on extracellular vesicle research.

From Science Daily • Jan. 20, 2026

When the team applied zap-and-freeze to the human tissue samples, they found the same vesicle recycling steps occurring in human neurons.

From Science Daily • Dec. 1, 2025

The findings speak to the value of using universal adult donor cells to create these extracellular vesicle therapies, the researchers said, because they don't carry the risk of generating an immune response.

From Science Daily • May 16, 2024

Waste particles are expelled by an exocytic vesicle that fuses at a specific region on the cell membrane, called the anal pore.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

In one case there was slight vesicle on nostril and slight inflammation of gum.

From Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 12, March 22, 1884 A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside by Various